Banksia baxteri
Common name: Baxter’s Banksia(also Bird’s Nest Banksia)
Family: PROTEACEAE (80 Genera)
Origin of Scientific Name
Banksia - after Sir Joseph Banks (1743 - 1820), famous English botanist and naturalist with a prolific list of botanical discoveries credited to him.
baxteri - after William Baxter, an English gardener/botanical collector, who collected the type specimen near King George Sound in WA in 1829.
Description
1.7 to 4 m high shrub, non-lignotuberous and hence not fire tolerant and totally reliant on seed for regeneration. It has very attractive, grey-green, severely triangularly-lobed leaves. Whereas most Banksia inflorescences appear as cylindrical spikes, baxteri is rather unique with its yellow-green, hemispherical terminal heads to 4 cm long by 8.5 cm wide.
Distribution
The south coast of Western Australia from the Stirling Range in the west to the Oldfield River in the east. Refer to the distribution map for this species via the Department of Environment and Conservation's FloraBase online herbarium.
Flowering Season
August to September, December to May.
Cultivation/Propagation
This is a fast-growing shrub ideal for screening and windbreaks or can be contained by planting in pots. Prefers deep, sandy, well-drained soil. Responds well to light pruning after flowering, but pruning too hard can kill them. The striking, long-stemmed terminal inflorescences make this species very popular with the cut-flower industry and they are often dyed different colours. Banksia baxteri is one of the easier banksias to grow, either from seed or cuttings.
View In Kings Park
In the Banksia Garden and in the second bed down from Forrest Drive, west of water garden. To help locate these sites, you may download the Western Australian Botanic Garden Guide brochure via our brochures page.